6. COMMITTEE SECTION (MPLADS)

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1 6. COMMITTEE SECTION (MPLADS) 6.1 Main functions of the Committee Section (MPLADS):- The Committee Section (MPLADS) provides the Secretarial assistance to the Committee on MPLADS, Rajya Sabha, which is headed by the Hon ble Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha. The Committee looks into various aspects of the MPLAD Scheme. The Committee Section performs its functions in close coordination with the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, the Nodal Ministry of the Government of India for administration of the MPLAD Scheme. (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) The Committee Section (MPLADS) performs the following functions:- It assists the Members of Rajya Sabha in resolving the problems faced by them in their Nodal Districts/States in the smooth implementation of the Scheme. It suggests the Ministry, on behalf of the Committee, to make necessary amendments/relaxation in the Guidelines on the Scheme in order to cope with the new situations, which arise from time to time; It processes various communications received from the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Members of Parliament and District Magistrates/Collectors from all over the country from time to time and prepares memoranda for consideration/decision of the Committee; It issues Notices regarding meetings of the Committee and prepares Minutes of meetings, Study Notes on visits of the Committee and Committee Reports; It prepares and circulates background notes on the basis of information/material furnished by the concerned Ministry/Department and the deliberations held in the meetings of the Committee; It intimates election/nomination, retirement, resignation and passing away of Members of Rajya Sabha to the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation for taking necessary action; and It prepares list of Nodal Districts of Members of Rajya Sabha under MPLADS and sends it to all Union Ministries/Departments for inviting them to the functions held by PSUs etc. under these Ministries/Departments. 6.2 Meetings of the Committee:- During the year, the Committee held six meetings on the 4 th January, 20 th January, 28 th April, 24 th June, 25 th July and 8 th December, Business transacted by the Committee:- The Committee in its six meetings considered 18 memoranda. These memoranda inter alia covered Rehabilitation works in Kosi flood affected areas in Bihar; Cloudburst and flash floods in Leh (Jammu & Kashmir); Review of Guidelines on MPLAD Scheme; Utilization of MPLADS fund for welfare of differently abled people; Purchase of books for schools, colleges and public libraries from MPLADS funds; Proposal for constitution of a Joint Committee on MPLADS; One MP - One Idea : Proposal of cash award under MPLAD Scheme; Sanction of MPLADS fund for reconstruction/upgradation of roads in metropolitan cities; Implementation of MPLAD Scheme in Bihar; Funding of Trusts/Societies having sitting Members of Parliament or their family members as Trustees/Members on Board from MPLADS funds; Demonstration of MPLADS website; Annual ceiling of Rs. 50 lakh for MPLADS works involving Trusts/Societies. 6.4 Inspection of the Committee Section (MPLADS):- The inspection of the Section for the year 2010 was done on 10 th and 18 th February, Goals for 2011:- The Goals of the Committee Section (MPLADS) during the year 2011 were as under:- i) Preparation of memoranda on various issues / proposals for consideration by the Committee and providing other assistance to the Committee for effective discharge of its duties. 56

2 ii) To review the progress of rehabilitation projects recommended by the Committee in Tsunami affected areas of South India and taking necessary steps accordingly to ensure their implementation/execution. iii) Preparation and updation of list of Nodal Districts of Members, Rajya Sabha, under MPLADS and forwarding the same to all Union Ministries/ Departments for inviting the Member(s) to the functions organized by the Ministry/Deptt. in his/her Nodal District. iv) Furnishing of information to various Sections of the Secretariat including Right to Information Cell, R & L Section, O & M Section and Committee Co-ordination Section. v) Submission of minutes of meetings of the Committee to Hon ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha for his perusal. vi) To provide necessary assistance to the Committee to review the progress of rehabilitation works in flood affected areas of Bihar from contributions made by Members of Rajya Sabha out of their MPLADS fund. vii) To review the status and progress of rehabilitation works in the cloudburst and flash floods affected areas of Leh (Jammu & Kashmir) from contributions made by Members of Rajya Sabha out of their MPLADS funds. viii) To review the Guidelines on MPLAD Scheme. ix) Weeding out of old records having no retention value, up to the year x) Updation of website data by uploading all the Reports of the Committee presented to Rajya Sabha on official website of Rajya Sabha. xi) Regular supervision of MPLADS website to ensure accurate and error free data as per provisions of the Guidelines on MPLADS. xii) Diarizing of all the receipts in electronic form in computer. xiii) xiv) xv) Regular updation of records of the Section as per Manual. Regular liaisoning with the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation regarding problems faced by the Members in the implementation of projects under the MPLAD Scheme. Preparation of Annual Action Plan. The analytical progress made by the Section on goals is as under:- i) A qualitative analysis of the proposals received was carried out and a total of 18 Memoranda were prepared and placed before the Committee for its consideration in the meetings held on 4 th January, 20 th January, 28 th April, 24 th June, 25 th July and 8 th December, ii) The Ministry was requested vide letter dated 28 th January, 2011, to advise the concerned District Authorities to furnish MPRs in time and also to complete the ongoing works without any further delay. The Ministry was also requested vide letters dated 15 th March and 27 th October, 2011 to obtain status of progress of incomplete/ongoing works from the concerned State Governments/UT Administration and to inform this Secretariat whether the Ministry has received the Work Completion Reports, Utilisation/Audit Certificates and Status of savings in respect of each of the completed works from the concerned State Governments/UT Administration. Two Monthly Progress Reports (MPRs) for the month ending May and August, 2011, were received on 23 rd June and 1 st November, 2011 respectively. It was mentioned that out of total 130 works, only 3 works, one each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andman & Nicobar Islands have remained incomplete. The Ministry was requested vide letter dated 2 nd November, 2011 to obtain detailed status report and reasons for no progress from quite some time in respect of each of the aforesaid ongoing three works. iii) The List of Nodal Districts opted/ changed by Members of Rajya Sabha, under the MPLAD Scheme was updated as and when intimation was received in the Section and the same was forwarded to all the Union Ministries and Departments within 5 working days of receipt of the intimation. A complete list of Nodal Districts opted 57

3 by Members was circulated to all the Union Ministries/ Departments on the 5 th April and 14 th September, iv) The information desired by various Sections of the Secretariat including Right to Information Cell, R & L Section, O & M Section and Committee Co-ordination Section was furnished within stipulated time to the concerned Section. v) Minutes of meetings of the Committee held on 4 th January, 20 th January, 28 th April, 24 th June, 25 th July and 8 th December, 2011, were forwarded to the Hon ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha. vi) The Committee reviewed rehabilitation works in the Kosi flood affected areas of Bihar in its meetings held on the 4 th January, 2011 and gave its approval for construction of 19 Disaster-cum-Community Centres and 19 Cattle Shelters at the newly chosen sites in the affected areas out of contribution made by Members of Rajya Sabha from their MPLADS fund. The Section rendered all necessary Secretarial assistance in making necessary arrangements for the meeting and making available to the Committee necessary information in the form of Memorandum. The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation was requested vide this Secretariat letter dated 1 st April, 2011 to furnish the status of progress of the aforesaid works. The Ministry was further reminded in this regard vide letters dated 10 th June, 1 st July, 16 th September, 8 th November and 20 th December, A copy each of letters dated 19 th April, 23 rd June, 7 th July, 29 th September, 9 th November and 7 th December, 2011 from the Nodal Ministry to the Government of Bihar was endorsed to this Secretariat wherein the Ministry had requested the Government of Bihar to furnish the status of the aforesaid works along with the PERT Chart for proper monitoring of these works by the Committee. However, no information in this regard has so far been received from either the concerned District Authorities or the Government of Bihar. vii) As on 31 st May, 2011, Rs crores had been allocated by Members of Rajya Sabha for rehabilitation works in Leh. The Committee deliberated on the issue in its meetings held on the 4 th January, 28 th April and 24 th June, It concurred to the proposals received from Government of Jammu & Kashmir to the tune of Rs crore, including Rs crores contributed by Members, Lok Sabha, for undertaking various rehabilitation works in the cloudburst affected areas of Leh. The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation was requested vide this Secretariat letter dated 23 rd September, 2011, and subsequent reminder dated 1 st December, 2011, to obtain from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir, information regarding status of various works being undertaken in the affected areas of Leh. The Ministry was also directed to request the State Government to send additional works to be carried out in Leh from the further contribution of Rs. 35 lakh made by Rajya Sabha Members. A copy each of letters dated 22 nd and 26 th December, 2011 from the Nodal Ministry to the Government of Jammu & Kashmir was endorsed to this Secretariat wherein the Ministry had requested the State Government to expedite the progress reports on various works undertaken in the affected areas of Leh out of MPLADS funds of Members of Parliament and also directed District Collector, Leh to furnish additional reconstruction and rehabilitation works which may be undertaken from the further contribution of Rs. 60 lakh made by Members, Rajya Sabha. The Ministry has informed that another Rs. 25 lakh have been consented by a Member, Rajya Sabha for the rehabilitation works in Leh. As on 31 st December, 2011, the total contribution by Members of Rajya Sabha, out of their MPLADS fund in this regard, stands at Rs crore. viii) Taking note of the heavy damage to life and property due to an earthquake in Sikkim in September, 2011, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation was requested vide this Secretariat letter dated 23 rd September, 2011, to apprise whether the aforesaid calamity has been declared by the Government of India as Calamity of severe nature. A copy of a letter dated 7 th October, 2011, from the Hon ble Minister of State (IC) for Statistics & Programme Implementation to all Members of Parliament was endorsed to this 58

4 Secretariat wherein it was inter alia stated that the Government of India has declared the aforesaid calamity as Calamity of severe nature. The Hon ble Minister further requested the Members to indicate the amount that they would wish to contribute from their MPLADS fund for relief/rehabilitation works in the calamity affected areas, as permissible under the MPLADS Guidelines. The Section issued a Parliamentary Bulletin Part II on 27 th October, 2011, to apprise the Members, relevant provisions of the Guidelines on MPLADS for enabling them to recommend works in the earthquake affected areas of Sikkim. As on 31 st December, 2011, the total contribution made by Members of Rajya Sabha out of their MPLADS fund in this regard is Rs. 185 lakh. ix) The Committee in its meeting held on the 20 th January, 2011, considered the Report its Sub-committee on Review of Guidelines on MPLAD Scheme. The Committee accepted the sixteen recommendations made by the Sub-committee and deliberated on the three issues which the Sub-committee had left for consideration of the full Committee. It formed its opinion on one of the three issues. The other two issues remained inconclusive. These issues have been further considered by the Committee in its meetings held on the 28 th April and 25 th July, The Committee also heard the representatives of the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India; Institution of Chartered Accountants of India and the Finance Secretary in the matter. The issues are still under consideration of the Committee. The Section rendered all necessary assistance in this regard. x) Old records upto the year 2010 having no retention value were weeded out. xi) The website data was regularly updated. All the Reports of the Committee which have been presented to the Rajya Sabha till date have been uploaded on the website. xii) Sample examination of the data available on the MPLADS websites was done seven times during the year. It included scrutiny of information available on the Website in respect of status of works recommended by 14 Members of Rajya Sabha from different States and other information available thereon in respect of them. Discrepancies/infirmities found were brought to the notice of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for rectification. The Ministry was also requested to instruct all the District Authorities to keep the website updated and remove the discrepancies, if any. xiii) xiv) xv) xvi) Computerised diary was done in the Section. The records of the Section, such as - registers of Reports; Meetings; Committee Membership; Expenditure and Guard Files of Tours and Minutes were updated regularly as per the Manual. Regular liaisoning with the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation was done regarding problems faced by Members of the Rajya Sabha in the implementation of projects under the MPLAD Scheme. The Annual Action Plan for the year 2012 was prepared and sent to the O& M Section by the prescribed date The Committee visited Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Puri, Cuttack and Jagatsinhpur in Orissa and Kolkata, South and North 24 Parganas in West Bengal from 15 th to 19 th February, 2011, to inspect projects executed out of contributions made by Members of Rajya Sabha from their MPLADS funds in Super Cyclone affected areas of Orissa and rehabilitation works executed/being executed out of contributions made by Members of Rajya Sabha from their MPLADS funds in Cyclone AILA affected areas of West Bengal. The visit to Orissa gave an opportunity to the Members to take stock of the usage, upkeep and maintenance of assets created under the Scheme to help the people of the districts which were severely affected by the Super Cyclone that had struck the State in Similarly, the visit to some of the affected districts of West Bengal, the coastal areas of which were hit by the cyclone AILA in 2009 enabled the Committee to inspect some of the ongoing works and 59

5 also to sensitize the State Government of the need to execute the works speedily to extend timely help to the affected people. A study note on the visit was prepared by the Section The Committee visited Leh, which was hit by a massive cloudburst in August, 2010, from 30 th May to 1 st June, 2011 to see the calamity ravaged areas and the sites proposed for relief and rehabilitation works to be undertaken from the contributions made by Members of Rajya Sabha from their MPLADS fund and to finalize the modalities of undertaking such works. The Committee also visited Srinagar and Baramula from 1 st to 3 rd June, 2011, to inspect the works executed/being executed out of MPLADS funds of Members of Rajya SAbha. The Committee held discussion with the Chief Secretary; District Commissioner, Leh and other officers of the State Government. A study note on the visit was prepared by the Section. 6.7 Budget and Expenditure of the Section:- For the financial year the budget grant of the Section for administrative expenses under the Head was Rs.5000/-. The budget under the Head was revised to Rs.10,000/- at RE stage. The actual expenditure till 31 st December, 2011 was Rs. 5727/-. The budget grant for Office Expenses under the Head was Rs.2000/-. The budget under the Head was revised to Rs. 1,000/- at RE stage. The actual expenditure till 31 st December, 2011 was Nil. The Section maintains a register to note the expenditure. 6.8 Status of Computerization:- The Committee Section (MPLADS) has been provided with three-computers, which are linked with the Internet. All typing work of the Section and diarizing of receipts are done on the computers. The webpage of the Secretariat concerning the Committee Section (MPLADS) is regularly updated. The website of the nodal Ministry administering the Scheme i.e., Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation is regularly monitored and information concerning entitlement, release of funds, works recommended/sanctioned, unspent balances etc. in respect of Members concerning the Scheme is furnished to Members/Officers as and when desired. 60

The Right to Information Act, 2005

(i) The Right to Information Act, 2005 Information regarding World Bank assisted ICDS Project Section: 4.(1) (b) Particulars of its organization, functions and duties; The Central Project Management Unit